Srinath Says He’d Have ‘Banned’ Sourav Ganguly For Making Steve Waugh Wait In 2001

Javagal Srinath said he would have punished Sourav Ganguly for making Steve Waugh wait for the toss in 2001.

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Sourav Ganguly and Steve Waugh. (ICC)

Javagal Srinath has said he would have punished Sourav Ganguly for making Steve Waugh wait for the toss during the 2001 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at Eden Gardens had he been the match referee.

Playing at his home ground, Ganguly famously arrived late for the toss, leaving Waugh irritated. The incident came during a memorable series that India won 2-1 after losing the opening Test. It was seen as an act of gamesmanship — a young leader of an underrated Indian side puffing his chest in front of the skipper of one of the great cricket teams, symbolically showing himself important in a way.

But Ganguly has claimed several times since that it was an honest mistake, for he had forgotten his blazer in the dressing room because of how nervous he was for the game.

“I would have banned Sourav for a few games!” Srinath, also a former India pacer, said at a recent event.

Though Ganguly defends himself every time the incident is brought up, others like Nasser Hussain have spoken about facing the same tardiness like Waugh.

Srinath, however, praised Ganguly’s leadership and his role in developing youngsters such as Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag.

‘Sooryavanshi is a wonderful talent’

Further, Srinath urged caution over comparisons between 15-year-old batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and legends Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

“When you judge a player, it’s just not the white ball, it is the red ball cricket as well,” he said. “Sooryavanshi is a wonderful talent; I think he’s still too young. I hope he develops the maturity like Sachin and has that strong head on his shoulders like Virat.”

Sooryavanshi recently made his T20I debut in England and scored his maiden half-century in Zimbabwe. He’s currently preparing for a return to red-ball cricket in the Duleep Trophy, where he’ll be East Zone’s vice-captain.

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Original source: https://www.news18.com/cricket/